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Jack Davis turns 90 today.

The GREAT Jack Davis turns 90 today! You may ask, "who is Jack Davis?" In the cartoon world, he is most any cartoonist's inspiration for doing what we do. The old MAD Magazine being Jack Davis's introduction to all teenage cartoonists who devoured each issue with his incredible cartoon style in each issue. The magazine no longer has cartoonists such as Jack Davis or Mort Drucker anymore.

Jack Davis work hit us all with the same impact as The Beatles did, both being from the 60's. Though my work doesn't resemble Mr. Davis, he was my inspiration for getting into my job. I'll explain....:) I tried to emulate his style when I was an editorial cartoonist, (as did many other cartoonists), then tiring of newspapers in general, I was looking around at other opportunities as a cartoonist....nothing came up!

I heard that a caricature association in the 90's was having Jack Davis as a guest speaker in Cocoa Beach, Florida.....that was it, I hopped on a plane (when air travel wasn't stressful), and headed down there. While there, I seen all these caricature artists drawing guests in mere minutes....something I could never do at that time. With thousands of drawings later, I thought I was ready to draw at my first "live" event and from there it took off.

So in a round-about way, again, Jack Davis had an influence on my career! So with that, I say....Happy Birthday Jack Davis! ps....yes....he was a wonderful person to meet!